A nearby hospital is one of only 25 in the country in 2012 to receive a special award from the American Heart Association.

New Hanover Regional Medical Center recently received the American Heart Association’s Lifeline Gold Quality Achievement Award for its care of heart attack patients who have experienced a ST Elevation Myocardial Infraction (STEMI), the most severe form of heart attacks. NHRMC scored 85 percent or higher on each of nine quality measures.

NHRMC’s Code STEMI program works with paramedics and hospitals throughout the region to identify when someone is having a STEMI heart attack so they can ready emergency and cardiac teams to get patients quickly to the cardiac catheterization lab before permanent damage is done to the heart muscles. While the national benchmark for STEMI patients to reach the catheterization lab after arrival at the hospital is 90 minutes, the average time for a patient at NHRMC’s HeartCenteris 42 minutes.